Knitting machinery



0, 1959 A. w. H. PORTER ETAL 2,872,7

KNITTING MACHINERY Filed June 17. 1955 "@Z F 1 4 5 x 1 '7 f /9 f 0r\ /i I s /7 g a g l 4/ A? i y j:

A ttarney s United States Patent KNITTING MACHINERY Allan William Henry Porter and Stephen Thomas Sheppard, Burton-on-Trent, England, assignors to F. N. F. Machinery Manufacturing Company Limited, a'British company Application June 17, 1955, Serial No. 516,086

Claims priority, application Great Britain June 17, 1954 11 Claims. ('Cl. 66-420) This invention relates to needles for high speed knitting machinery and particularly to needles for use in machines in which the knitting action is produced by the inter-related movements of needles with tongues or sleeves which act to close the eye of the needle during certain parts of the knitting cycle, and with sinkers and warp guides We have previously achieved satisfactory results with needles having short rigid hooks and tubular shanks in which the tongues reciprocate. Such a construction, however, does not allow needles to be made having hooks as large as the hooks of conventional spring bearded needles, but it provides a more satisfactory system for high speed knitting since the presser bar which is necessary for conventional spring beard needles is eliminated. This presser bar introduces various mechanical drawbacks, and also becomes worn into grooves by constant rapid engagement with needle hooks.

The present invention enables needles of spring beard type with large hooks to be used while enjoying the ad vantages resulting from the use of tubular tongue needles.

According to the invention, a resilient bearded needle is combined with a closing member, slidable relative to the needle along the axis of the part of the shank adjacent to the hook and having a cam surface adapted to engage the tip of the beard so as to displace the tip against the resilience of the hook, to ensure firm engagement of the tip of the heard with the closing member during casting off.

Preferably the closing member is a sleeve surrounding the needle shank and having a longitudinal groove into which the tip of the needle engages when the needle is full withdrawn into the sleeve prior to casting off.

The movement of the warp guides, needles, sleeves and sinkers are similar to the movements of the warp guides, needles, tonguesand sinkers shown in the United States Patent No. 2,292,287 although the lengthening of the hooks and replacing the tongues by sleeves may call for certain alterations in the tongue movement according to that specification.

Two examples of spring bearded needles according to the invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation of the hook end of a needle showing the closing member in section; Figure 2 is a section on the line IIII of Figure 1; Figure 3 is a rear elevation of the closing member of the needle shown in Figure 1, and Figure 4 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing a modified form of needle.

In Figures 1 to 3 the hook is formed from the gradually tapering end of the needle shaft 1 which is off-set at 2 and bent backwards at 3 so that the tip 4A of the heard 4 of the needle lies approximately in line with the left-hand (as seen in Figure 1) or front side, of the needle shaft 1. The heard is about 0.30 inch long.

The closing member is a cylindrical sleeve 5 formed from .034 inch diameter tube having a bore of .020 inch, bent backwards above the section IIII to a half inch radius curve forming a cam surface at 6. A saw cut 7 "ice which forms a slot is made in the front of the sleeve by a half inch diameter saw .016 inch wide centred in the plane of the section II-ll'. A saw cut 8 which forms a second slot is made in the back of the sleeve by a saw two inches in diameter .020 inch wide. The surfaces formed by saws thus have radii of inch and 1 inch respectively. Above the section IIII the back of the sleeve is ground flat at 9 in a plane making an angle of two degrees to the vertical transverse plane in Figure 1. Figure 2 is a section of the sleeve 5 on the line IIII in Figure l, and Figure 3 shows the sleeve as seen from the right in Figure 1. Figure 1 shows the needle closed by the sleeve for casting off.

From the open position, the sleeve slides upwards relative to the needle till the curved head 6 of the sleeve engages the tip 4a of the beard 4, urging it towards the left in Figure 1, until, as the top of the sleeve reaches the angle 3 of the back of the needle, the tip 4 enters the saw cut 7 due to the resilience of the hook, and isthen held securely by the groove formed by the saw cut 7 during casting off. The radius of the saw cut enables: the tip 4A to disengage from and engage the sleeve smoothly, and the saw cut 8 accommodates the offset in Figure 4, the bearded hook 16 is formed at the top of a tubular shaft 11 and is bent at 12 and 13 as. shown so that the tip 14 lies approximately on the axis; of the tubular shaft 11. -A tongue 15 reciprocates in this shaft having a chamfered tip forming a cam surface at 16 and being cut away at 17 where it overlaps the tip. The lower end of this cut away portion is formed with a notch 18 for engaging the tip so that it is held and supported during casting ofi in which position the tip 16 of the tongue is also braced as shown against the back 19 of the hook of the needle.

The needles according to the invention enable the threads to be laid on a part of the needle, such as the offset part 2 in Figure 1, which is behind the vertical transverse plane containing the point of the beard. The tension in the threads keeps the parts of the threads which are laid across the needles, away from the plane of the points. The cam surface on top of the closing member, such as the part 6 in Figure 1, also helps to separate the parts of the threads crossing the needle and carry them clear of the point of the beard, thus reducing the chance of threads or filaments being trapped by the point in casting off.

We claim:

l. The combination of a spring bearded knitting needle comprising a shank and an elongated hook formed on one end of said shank and having a resilient beard extending toward said shank, and a closing member slidable relative to the needle along the axis of the shank having a cam surface sloping from said shank outwards towards said heard in the direction away from the hook end of said needle, said cam surface being adapted to engage the tip of the beard between it and said shank.

2. The combination according to claim 1, in which the hook of the needle is shaped so that the tip of the beard of the hook normally lies close to the axis of the part of the shank of the needle adjacent to the book.

3. The combination according to claim 2, in which the closing member is a sleeve surrounding the shaft of the needle, said cam surface being adapted to urge the tip of the beard away from the shaft and said sleeve having a longitudinal slot in the front of the sleeve adapted to accommodate the tip of the beard when the sleeve and hook overlap in casting ofi.

4. The combination according to claim 3, in which the back of the needle is offset, and the back of the sleeve has a second slot through which the offset part of the needle emerges from the sleeve.

5. The combination according to claim 4, in which the tip of the beard lies substantially on the aXis of the shaft of the needle and the head of the sleeve engages the offset part of the back of the hook.

6. The combination according to claim 5, in which the closing member is a tongue having a head which is chamfered to form said cam surface to urge the tip of the beard away from the back of the hook and the front of the tongue has a surface with which the tip engages leading to a transverse notch on the tongue into which the tip of the beard enters and is held.

7. The combination according to claim 6, in which when the tongue overlaps the hook sufliciently for the tip to enter the notch, the hook is so shaped that the head of the tongue bears upon the back of the hook.

8. In combination, a knitting needle comprising a shank and an elongated hook formed on one end of said shank, said hook having a resilient beard extending towards said shank, and a member for closing the hook of said needle, said closing member comprising a sleeve surrounding, and slidable along, said shank, a cam surface formed at the end of said sleeve adjacent said hook, said cam surface sloping from said shank outwards towards said beard in a direction away from the hook end of said needle and being arranged to engage between said beard and said shank to close said hook when said sleeve is moved along said shank towards said hook.

9. In combination, a knitting needle comprising a shank and an elongated hook formed on one end of said shank, said hook having a resilient beard with a tip extending inwardly towards said shank, and a member for closing the hook of said needle, said closing member comprising a sleeve surrounding, and slidable along,

said shank, a cam surface formed at the end of said sleeve adjacent said hook, said cam surface sloping from said shank outwards towards said beard in a direction away from the hook end of said needle and being arranged to engage between said beard and said shank to urge said tip of said beard outwardly and said sleeve having a longitudinal slot into which said tip is brought into engagement when said sleeve is moved along said shank towards said hook.

10. The combination as claimed in claim 9, wherein said shank is formed with an offset away from said beard and said sleeve has a longitudinal slot through which said olfset extends.

11. In combination, a knitting needle comprising a shank and a hook formed on one end of said shank, said hook having a resilient beard extending towards said shank and said shank being formed with an offset away from said beard, and a member for closing the hook of said needle, said closing member comprising a sleeve surrounding, and slidable along, said shank, said sleeve having a longitudinal slot through which said offset extends, a cam surface formed at the end of said sleeve adjacent said hook, said cam surface sloping from said shank outwards towards said beard in a direction away from the hook end of said needle and being arranged to engage between said beard and said shank to close said hook when said sleeve is moved along said shank towards said hook.

Appleton Nov. 16, 1875 Salisbury Apr. 10, 1877 

